Defense Leads Men's Basketball to 40-37 Season-Opening Win Over American

Friday, November 14

Liacouras Center

7:30 p.m.

Temple University

1-0

American

0-1

American

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Defense Leads Men's Basketball to 40-37 Season-Opening Win Over American

11.14.14 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - With a tough defensive effort that held an opponent to the lowest point total in the Fran Dunphy era, Temple men's basketball held on for a 40-37 win against visiting American (0-1) in the season opener for both teams at the Liacouras Center. The Owls (1-0) led all the way through after a strong start, helping them stave off a comeback attempt by the Eagles in the final minutes.

Temple's 40 points for the win were its lowest since a 38-37 win against Penn State on Feb. 8, 1947. In the three-point era, the previous low in a win was a 44-40 victory over Penn on Jan. 20, 2000.

Sophomore Mark Williams and redshirt sophomore Daniel Dingle led the Owls with 11 points apiece, and Williams nearly made it a double-double with a career-tying nine rebounds. Senior Will Cummings added a game-high six assists to seven points and six boards, while also recording two steals and playing the full 40 minutes.

With just over two minutes remaining, American started what became a 9-0 run to narrow an 11-point gap to two with 14 seconds left. Cummings made just 1-of-2 at the line after being fouled, but Temple was able to prevent the Eagles from getting off a clean shot on their final possession.

Temple came out strong early in the contest, hitting 4-of-6 from the field in the first four minutes while holding American scoreless. Williams contributed two from behind the arc in the opening run, banking in a second one to give the Owls a 10-0 lead at 16:15.

The opening spurt would not be indicative of the rest of the half, as the pace slowed dramatically the rest of the way. The Eagles' first bucket came after five minutes had run off the clock, and they shot just 20 percent in finishing the first half with 11 points. Seven of those points came in a quick run that started near the 13-minute mark, and Temple freshman Obi Enechionyia ended the Owls' short drought with his first career bucket at 11:17.

The Owls' defense forced two shot-clock violations by American, and out-rebounded the Eagles 22-12 in the half. All eight players on the court grabbed at least one board for Temple, and the Owls were led by Williams and Cummings with six points and three rebounds apiece for the half.

American's John Schoof hit a layup with 8:47 left in the first period, and the Eagles did not score again. Temple hit only free throws in the final 8:18, but made all six for a 23-11 halftime lead.

Schoof was the last player to hit a field goal in the first half and the first to do so in a slow-starting second half, getting a trey for the Eagles just over three minutes in. Williams hit 2-of-2 at the line for the Owls' first second-half points at 15:39, but American was able to narrow Temple's 12-point halftime lead to five within the first five and a half minutes.

Both teams continued to struggle offensively and the Owls made enough shots to stay in the lead. Graduate Jimmy McDonnell capped a short run with a three-pointer at 3:24 to put Temple back up by 11, 39-28. It would be the last field goal of the game for the Owls, who narrowly held off American after a 9-0 run for the Eagles in the final minutes.

Temple will be back in action at home on Monday, Nov. 17 against Louisiana Tech (7:00 p.m./ESPN3/1210 AM WPHT).

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